Institute of Energy and Climate Research, Forschungszentrum Julich
Material Science for the Energy Transition
The Institute of Energy and Climate at the Forschungszentrum Jülich focuses on the development of new technologies for climate and environmental protection. The research areas range from Materials Synthesis and Processing, Microstructure and Properties and Electrochemical Process Engineering to Plasma Physics and Photovoltaics. The Photovoltaics (IEK-5) division work on improving the production of renewable energy in the future. In the Electrochemical Process Engineering (IEK-3) and Materials Synthesis and Processing (IEK-1) divisions, the focus is on energy storage and what to do with unused energy, including Power-to-X (electrolysis) and electrochemical storage, esp. the development of solid-state batteries. In addition, flexible cogenerative high-temperature technologies are investigated, in particular, protective coatings applied by thermal spray in the divisions IEK-1 and modeling and characterization of Microstructures and Properties in IEK-2. Furthermore, in the plasma physics division (IEK-4), the development and characterization of materials for a fusion environment focuses on long-term energy solutions.